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Friday, November 7

November WIPocalypse update

I don't have too much progress - although I did finish the Miss New Year's Fairy by Mirabilia. And I've been working on my Wee Beasties RR. I'd probably be mostly finished with it, but I ran out of 202HL, so I've set it aside as I wait for that to come in (I could finish stitching my bug, but I didn't want to move the qsnaps, because lazy).

I didn't get much else done because I took part in the Mini Monthly challenge last month and I fell into a couple of new, small WIPS. (oh the horror! lol). I do want to spend the rest of the year on Fantasy Sampler and Egyptian Sampler once the Wee Beastie RR is done (it really, really shouldn't take that long, and I've already got FS and ES both on qsnaps). I think that means I'll be leaving this year with a WIPocalypse bang? I even have Christmas Eve and Day off this year, so I'll probably be stitching (if not playing videogames). I do have a new start for Jan 1 that I'm allowing myself.

And this is an approximation of the RR (I'm just doing a brown and gold border, much like what is present in the "regular" beastie pieces), I've marked in how far I've gotten with the border. I'm still working on the gold inner border with the queen bee:

Topic: What are your favorite and least favorite materials to use in your stitching?

Oh, whoa nellie, I can go on for days.

As far as fabric - my favorite is easily lugana. I find most evenweaves just OK (I don't like the thicker/stiffer ones), linens are just OK (it really depends on the weave and the strands used to make the weaving - how thick/thin they are, how tightly woven), and I hate, hate, haaaaate aida. I've stayed away from it since my first linen project in 96 or so... I just find it stiff and unstitched areas to be ugly (so for a solid coverage piece I'd fuss less). My favorite counts are anything 32 and above, although for a while there was a fabric called Murano. it was essentially a 30 count lugana, and I loved that stuff (I have a yard and a half still, my precious). My very favorite color is platinum, which, I know is quite dull when you consider the array of hand dyeds out there, but to be honest, I find most of the pieces I see stitched on hand dyeds to be overly busy and sometimes quite ugly. Not that I don't stitch on it myself, I just tend to stay conservative with my background fabrics.

As for threads - As far as simple cotton floss, I love simple DMC, probably because it's very consistent and easy to deal with. I lurve pretty much any silks, though I have an affinity for dinky dyes (that might be personal) and gloriana. I'm not as much of a fan of the single ply threads (like Wildflowers), though I didn't dislike them so much. I do loathe rayon floss and will never work with it again.

LOVE the RR with the bugs. I have the Queen Bee on my 2015 start list - it might get moved up on the list. Your Mira is also wonderful, I'm working on my first one and have another one in my 2015 starting pile.

Miss New Year is lovely, I really like her giant watch!I totally agree with you about aida. It's interesting that you have 30 count Murano because my favourite fabric is Mirabilia and similar designs is 32 count Murano. If you take a look at Crafty Kitten's website she does a lovely range of subtle hand dyed fabrics including Murano. My four latest purchases from her are all 32 count Murano!